Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-07-22
THE NEW NATURAL GAS.
SOME POINTS ABOUT THE FLUID AND
ITS USES.
Its Pressure and Its Heating Power in
Connection with African 1t Be Stored?
The King Well at Full BIast-Natural
Gas for Gardening.
Especial Correspondence

The King Well at Full BIast-Natura
Gas for Gardening.
= Especial Correspondence
| MUNCrE, Ind, July ID.
This town Is in the heart of the Indiana ga
regions, and while write this the flames ar,
bursting forth from a number of tall iror
pipes in different parts of the city, and thu
gas burns away because it is cheaper to let il
| burn than to exert the effort to turn it out
Muncie is nice little city of perhaps 700(
people, 1t has good buildings, a number OF
pleasant residences and a court house in pro
cess OF construction which will cost s25O, OO(
and which makes as good a show as many q
| government building which has cost half 9
million. The White river runs by the town
and the country surrounding it is fat This
| forty -fve miles square of Indiana gas terri.
tory is now teeming with rich crops Seas OF
yellow grain wave in the fields along the
track of the railroad, the hay is being cut in
the meadows, and the corn grows in all the
iuxuriance of Indiana's rich soil Riding in
the cars at night, one sees frefies by the tens
II thousands, and field after field is passed in
which the crops seem to be ornamented with
tcres OF diamonds which shine out in the
light OF these bugs phosphorescence.
Muncie has seven gas wells, and six of these
are in operation. Some Of them, according to
the estimate of DR.. o. j. Phinney, one of the
eading Indiana biologists, have a perpetual
How OF several millions Of cubic feet a day.
md the city is now being piped by a company
Which will furnish it as fuel to the citizens at
me-third or one-half the cost of coal The
main pipes used are ten inches in diameter.
md they are laid only few inches below the
urface. 1t is not the intention to use the gas
or house lighting, and it will furnish Nun
lies light only indirectly. Imean that it will
furnish the heat which runs the dynamo that
makes its electricity.
49,
The electric light is, by the wav. mucb
moro extensively used in the west than in the
east. have not stopped at one hotel, save at
Flndiay, where natural gas is used, that l
have not found its office, parlors and bed
rooms lighted by electricity. The wire loon
Edison burner is most common, and under
stand 1t is largely in private use in the
smaller towns. In Fostoria both electricity
ana natural gas light up the streets, and the
sas bursts forth from mast lights, which,
almost even with the tops of the houses, make
the streets at midnight almost light enough
'or reading newspaper. Anderson, near
lere, has large supply of gas, but uses it
only for heating, and, like Muncie, it is now
aging ten inch mains throughout the town.
indianapolis has gas in large quantities
within twenty miles, and several companies
are striving to get the right topipe it into the
city. An ordinance has been passed by the
council, am told, fixing the price to be paid
at not more than ten cents for 1000 cubic
teet This will be much less than the cost Of
coal, and the people and the manufacturing
establishments will be glad to use it. The
question of piping this gas has been solved in
Pttsburg, but the piped gas is not equal to
that at the well in pressure nor in volume.
1t loses, it is estimated. five pounds of its
"rtssure to the mile, and trying to make gas
un down hill in these pipes is like irving to
prce water up hill. 1t is lighter than air,
md the force of its gravity is in the opposite
direction. Senator Sherman says it cannot
Ie pped over forty miles without pumping,
md Governor Foster tells me that the gas
begins to expand the moment it leaves the |
ocks, so that a cubic inch of rock cavity NAV |
iold hundreds of cubic feet of gas.
a** !
lt is impossible to appreciate the force of |
his gas without having seen it. Here in In
lana it PUSHES out Of the walls under a pres
ure OF $50 pounds to the square inch, and a big
veil like the karg well at Findlay roars like |
Niagara falls gone mad. The gas is strongly
with sulphur, aud it smells
Ike rotten eggs or sulphuretted hydrogen
as. 1t Is cold as it rnShes upwards through
he pipes and the force Of big well is such
hat If you pound upon the gas stream with
IL iron sledge it wild hurl it into the air and
on cannot hit the top of the pipe. At Findlay
ca w hn all l,,,lt |
lat number of engines were being run by
at the same time. A pipe perhaps four
lches IN diameter was run from the well
long the Blanchard river, and so arranged
nat its end was pointed at the edge of and
bout four or five feet above the water The
rs was turned on lightly at first, and q
'atch was put to it. 1t blazed up like a bon
re hanging over the water, and turned the
lrroundlngs into those of gentle moonlight
ght. Then more was turned on and the flame
lCieaSed. 1t was again turned on and the gas
hne out with terrible roar, throwing a con-
nuous volume OF flame thirty or forty feet
ng over the water and making it so hot that
'eat sheets of steam rose from the fast run
ng water below. At full blast the gas
look the heavy iron pipe, and the air was so
1T within thirty feet around as to be almost
iendurahle. Blocks of wood and stone ,
rown INTO 1t We're carried away out into
@ water. and the force of the gas was so ;
long that there was no fire at all within >
re feet of the mouth of the pipe. The end
the pipe was probably cold, and the rush .
gas blew the fire away into the great hiss ,
& sheet OF blue and yellow fame beyond g
lis flame was steady, and the terrible noise
its blast lasted as long as the gas was al
wed to burn. VIII IL the directions were
ven to turn it Off the wrench of a screw.
Aich moved so gently that boy could oper- +
Q 1t, put it out {
Here at Muncie, i'll company with Mr.. Fred q
cath, prominent business man of the 4
Nn, saw one Of the smaller wells opened. n
d the gas in this case made such a noise in r
shing upwards as to be almost deafening.
looked blue at the end of the pipe and
zen put my hand in the current l found
like ice. took an iron wrench and strove
hit the top of the pipe, but the gas stream
rev my wrench into the air and felt as
oush l was pounding India rubber when l
uck the current.
s*M
L viii be surprise to many to know that
the use of this gas for fuel, the air burnt
kes large part of the heating power.
Here at Muncie visited one of the largest
nufactories of flax bagging in the limited | <